Memorial Day

The older I get the more I appreciate all the sacrifices and efforts that have been dedicated to our country by our service men and women. One of the greatest things that I am proud of is being born and able to live in America. So many people take our freedoms for granted. And they were not free. So much blood and lives have been sacrificed so that we are able to live the lives we choose and are envied and desired by so many people around the world. I have had family members lose their life, limbs and even minds in service. And it means all the more to me today. May we always remember the dedication and cost these liberties were paid for and to say thanks to all who have served to keep our country free and wonderful. God Bless our military.. And thank you..

Things I have learned part two

Okay so some time has passed so I thought I might think up some other nuggets of wisdom I have learned along the way.

1. The older I get the more forgiving I am of myself and transgressions. There is something to be said about aging that's positive. The race isn't quite as fast, the road not as confusing and the peace for not really giving a damn what others think is definitely freeing. I've learned to say no more to others in order to protect my time w/ my family and obligations. Or maybe that's just because that's the most used word around here w/two rugrats..or sewer rats as Rache likes to call rats.. In my career I never felt I could say no without major repercussions.. Maybe because big business is always banking on big repercussions. Little steps w/our kids is great.. I'm not in as much of a hurry these days unless we are running late to a scheduled activity.

2. Friends are so important for survival and happiness in this world. And I have reconnected w/old high school friends and work that I thought had faded. What a blessing to rediscover these great people have just moved, but not moved on and away from me. Later tonight I will reconnect w/high school friends I have not seen in 25 yrs. for some. What fun it will be to catch up.. I'm especially excited about spending some time w/my very dear best friend from hs. What a sweetheart she is..
And icing on the cake will be a night out w/ my dear husband. A night out with adults,laughter,conversation and dancing is just what I need. Old friends mean so much. The older one gets, the harder it is to make friends or even make time for them. I can't wait..

3. Marriage is one of the hardest and strangest relationships and things ever invented. After almost 17 yrs and knowing each other for 21 yrs.. some days I have trouble even recognizing myself or John. And the wierd thing is the longer I know him, the less I know about him some days..?? WTH? And then something can happen and all of that goes out the door and you discover that everything you knew, shared in common and love shared comes pouring back tenfold.. As if you never questioned your sanity as to who is this person and where are we going? The basics are still in place in which I have discovered remains to be the adhesive of us.

4. I'm still a chicken shit.. The dye sits on the vanity unopened. The question remains as to why I just don't donate the crap before it expires and really will turn someone's hair green.

5. I am blessed beyond measure. I have a loving complicated and hard working husband. Our children are our life and bring so much texture, headaches, and humor it astounds me. I have an incredible family. The older I get the more I realize jsut how close and loving we are. My husband and kids prove this fact by the differences in what I grew up with and what we have now. My nerves will probably never be able to reconcile all the chaos, fighting, and noise..but that is ok.. I'm learning to tune it out. And I have some incredible friendships.. both local, family. old and far away from all over the states. God has blessed me so much. Oh yea.. and then there's doodledog!!

6. The internet has to offer some of the best and worst of life. All the connections, information and the liberation is entertaining and mind blowing. Kids today have the world at their reach. My generation thought MTV was the greatest invention.. that was way before all the new channels w/tons of information and variety. When I was in high school, we didn't have all the info at our fingertips.. This allows people today to think in much broader strokes. It amazes me what the kids today can accomplish since they have the ability to see so much further than their home, school and experiences. It makes me wonder just what Marshes and Rache will experience. I remember a trip to San Francisco during Spring Break in college that opened my eyes and made me hunger for bigger things and experiences.

7. I def. don't believe everything I hear these days.

Life is good.. I've always been scared to say that cause then it seems something bad happens.. But I'm learning to appreciate and soak in the good for just what it is..
Life is good

Sometimes life will throw you a bone..

Every now and then, life will decide to give you a forwarning of things to come. This can be said for today. Rachel was set to have her second dance recital. One of her first wordswhen she was a baby was "dance" and usually first thing in the morning. We put her in class at 18 months of age since she found very little interest in any of the millions of toys that littered our home. None.. zilch..for this child it was music, movement and dance. She took to dance like a fish to water. She watched the DVD of last years performance and all the other numbers a zillion times..mimicing them when she was alone. She still wasn't convinced that she could not perform her Mickey Mouse song and dance again this year.

So the warning signs started last week when she came down w/a terrible cough and congestion bug. Those cooties just refused to leave her alone. She missed her photo session and the second to the last practice. The extreme coughing that often led to throwing up just seemed to take the wind out of her sails. This morning I let her sleep late to rest up since today was The Day.. and it is so very long. It starts w/ a 2 hr. dress rehearsal. Marshes and I missed her first number when we stepped out to converse w/the ducks that live near our PAC facility. Then we caught her second number to "Under the Sea" and she stood there and sucked her thumb.
That's when I knew we were in trouble. So we make it home for some lunch. She crawls into bed w/me for an afternoon nap. I fall, she doesn't..she goes out to play.. no nap..zilch..
Then we are back for the real thing at the PAC at 5 pm. It starts at 6pm and will last until 8.

Before we head out the door we take a few pictures to capture this moment. By the smile on her face I knew we were in for a very long evening. She told me she was scared and I told her that the makeup she now had on would help alot of those fears..
Nothing helped. This child was so tired and just wasn't into dancing today. Earlier in the week, we had bumped into a friend who said she was scared of dancing as this was her first recital. I think that conversation stuck with Rache. So naturally her group danced in the 4th song of the program. And as I feared, she stood there still as a tree. I felt so bad for her. My baby just wasn't into this thing that she had worked so hard at the past 8 months. And she had to patiently wait in the backroom until they were called up again on stage for number number two. And as expected, she stood there and repeated her performance. My heart just broke for her. It was all I could do not to go grab her and hold her tight and let her fall asleep in my arms. No.. they still had the madatory curtain call and bows to get through 45 minutes later. So instead, she watched a movie in the back w/ her friends and we her family tried not to sleep. Tonight had to of been one of the longest 2 hours I have sat through. I am so very proud of this family. Mashes was starving and lasted two hours. John was bored to tears for 2 hours and I was overheated and fighting another ocular migraine. But I am most proud of my baby girl who didn't cry, fight or give up when she just found herself in a painful situation that she found herself in. The fact that these girls (and two boys) even danced at all in front of an audience that exceeded 1000 people is truly amazing to me. Never in amillion years would this kid ever have been able to do that..and at 3yrs of age on top of that? So tonight we all learned some valuable lessons in an uncomfortable situation..and Rachel got an awesome costume to play in and made another group of great friends.. And the interesting thing? We had purchased a one page ad for her and the quote I included along w/her photos was "You can dance anywhere,even if only in your heart".

These past few months she has been trying to decide if she wants to continue with her dancing, or if she wants to try out a preschool program. She's so torn. The decision seems to go back and forth. Time will tell. And the most valuable thing I learned tonight is that I am so grateful that my baby girl isn't pushing so hard to grow up like she has been in the past. It was reassuring to me to see that she is quite happy and content with being a 3 yr. old. And I will try and cherish every single possible moment it takes to be there in THAT moment with her and Marshall as well. For they are growing up way too fast as it is. And my heart will dance with them.

Life's Like That...

This could apply to any aspect of your life that you thought you had planned out, but God had other plans...

HOLLAND

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip- to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.



After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.



So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around...and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills...and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.



But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away...because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

But...if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things...about Holland.




By Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987.

I'm so blessed to have gotten the mom I have..and hers as well..

MOTHER
This is a truly BEAUTIFUL piece. Please read this at a slow pace, digesting every word and in leisure...do not hurry....this is a treasure...

For those lucky to still be blessed with your Mom, this is beautiful. For those of us who aren't, this is even more beautiful. For those who are moms, you'll love this.






The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long way?" she asked. And the guide said: "Yes and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."



But the young mother was happy, and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."




Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said,� "Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come."




And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary. But at all times she said to the children," A little�patience and we are there." So the children climbed, and when they reached the top they said, "Mother, we would not have done it without you."




And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at the stars and said, "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage.� Today, I 've given them strength."



And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the mother said: "Look up. Lift your eyes to the light. And the children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said, This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."

And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she was little and bent. But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage. And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they could see a shining road and�golden gates flung wide. And mother said, "I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them."



And the children said, "You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates." And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: "We cannot see her but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence......."



Your Mother is always with you.... She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks; she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well. Your Mother lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every tear drop. She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you. Not time, not space... not even death!

PASS THIS ON TO ALL THE MOTHERS &CHILDREN YOU KNOW. MAY WE NEVER TAKE OUR MOTHERS FOR GRANTED...

Pass it on to the men too because they have mothers too....


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POSITIVE QUOTE OF THE DAY
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Being defeated is often only a temporary condition. Giving up is what
makes it permanent.

-- Marilyn vos Savant 1946-NA

Now this I can relate to..memo to self...

I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches!

The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that?

This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you.

Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so... love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't. Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it! Have a garbage-free day!

Have a great day!!